LeT operative, Saeed's aide Abu Qatal shot dead in PoK

Abu Qatal, wanted by National Investigation Agency in connection with January 2023 attacks and 2024 Reasi bus attack, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Jhelum area of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on Saturday night. Qatal, aka Qatal Sindhi, was considered close to Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed and was involved in multiple cases of attacks on civilians and policemen inJ&K.

According to NIA, Qatal, along with others, was recently involved in the Rajouri attacks on civilians at Dhangri village on January 1, 2023, followed by an IED blast the next day. Seven people, including two children, were killed and several others severely injured in the attacks.

NIA probe has revealed that LeT handlers - Saifullah, alias Sajid Jutt, Mohd Qasim and Abu Qatal, alias Qatal Sindhi - were involved in the recruitment and dispatch of LeT terrorists from Pakistan to target civilians as well as security personnel in J&K.

Qatal had come to India in 2002-03 and was active in the Poonch-Rajouri range. Qatal was instrumental in creating terror proxies of Lashkar, namely The Resistant Force, active since 2019. He was credited to have carried out a bus attack in Reasi in June last year in which eight pilgrims as well as the bus driver were killed and 41 pilgrims were seriously injured. TRF had claimed responsibility for the attack.

Qatal had been a high-priority target for Indian security agencies, including NIA and the Indian Army.